


norikae

by laminar



Category: Ginga Tetsudou no Yoru | Night on the Galactic Railroad, 地縛少年花子くん | Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun | Toilet-bound Hanako-kun (Manga)
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Night on the Galactic Railroad AU, Short One Shot, i think i was just reminded of it?, something short; could grow into something longer, the references make more sense if you've read the novel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 01:35:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28591857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laminar/pseuds/laminar
Summary: "The doors on the left side will open. Please watch your step."
Relationships: Hanako | Yugi Amane/Yashiro Nene
Kudos: 2





	norikae

You don’t know what the year is, nor the month, nor the day, but it doesn’t matter. Eons of nights have blended together in a nebulous haziness. You yawn, reclining against the oh-so-soft leather cushion as the train rumbles onward.

You don’t remember when you became a passenger of this train. You swore you saw a play when you were alive related to it, something about a steam engine chugging with the Milky Way. As you try to dig your way into distant memories, you feel yourself grasping at the void instead of something tangible. No matter how hard you scurry, you don’t have the images of the fifth grade classroom play you’ve long forgotten, rather the recurring train stops: the Southern Cross towering over maize fields and Scorpio’s blazing red beacon.

“The next station is Terra. Terra. The doors on the left side will open. Please watch your step.”

You smile at the stationmaster’s voice. Though you can’t ascribe a gender to it, it reminds you of the automated announcements from when you were human— well, at least when you were a ghost. At the very least, you knew that you died by your own hand in the Showa Era, back when train announcements weren’t as streamlined and more crackling and unintelligible. When you reincarnated into a ghost, you never really stepped onto such modern trains— after all, taking care of mischievous  _ youkai _ was a huge task already. You didn’t really have the time to relive your life beyond running away from your toxic bitch of a brother and exploring your old school.

The doors open, and more souls file into the station. Most of them are old men and women, presumably victims of  _ kodokushi _ because their children never bothered to go back to the countryside. Some of them are salarymen and office ladies, some with shinkansen skid marks fresh on their skin. A handful are schoolkids like you, schoolkids who keep on looking left and right and pulling their sweaters down their arms in fear. (unlike you, who’s just relaxing in your summer uniform with half-wound gauze over your forearm)

“Hey!”

You raise your eyebrow. The voice seems vaguely familiar, unlocking a memory of candy apple stalls and the faint stench of firework smoke.  _ Should I trust them? _ You’ve been a lifelong passenger on the railroad enough to know that there were two kinds of souls: the fake ones that’d be friends with you only to try to escort you to their version of heaven and the one’s that’d rather stay silent.

“Don’t you remember me?”

You decide to answer them anyway. There’s no pain in trying.

“...No?” you barely mumble. You hope that’s enough to drive them away.

“Well, you seem familiar.”

“What’s your name?”

“Yashiro Nene.”

“Yugi Amane.”

**Author's Note:**

> something i wrote for fun a long time ago! lmk if y'all want this to be A Thing.
> 
> translation notes:  
> norikae - transferring on public transport  
> kodokushi - dying alone and being undiscovered for a long time because of that solitude. it's a big problem among japan's elderly population.


End file.
